When I was preparing for the first winter in Thailand, I stood in front of me choice of which plastic cards to make, which bank take advantage of. At that moment I made myself a multi-currency card Visa Alfabank and ruble Mastercard Sberbank. And after a couple of years almost completely moved to Tinkoff by making a Tinkoff debit card AllAirlines travel credit card from them is also pleased, but more about that another post.
Links to other posts about my financial calculations, as well as on other topics of interest for independent travelers, you You can see in the FAQ Winter in Thailand. If you have questions, then first look there.
The content of the article
- 1 How I chose a bank and bank cards
- 2 Pros and cons of Alfabank and Sberbank
- 2.1 Alfabank
- 2.2 Sberbank
- 3 Internet banking, Webmoney, Yandex.Money
Contents
How I chose a bank and bank cards
When I began to travel actively, I also got ready for the winter in Thailand, a number of questions arose – how do I get transfers from Russia, how to withdraw money in Thailand and so on. It was mainly about choosing a bank that can give me all this.
I read a number of topics on the forums, a lot of all sorts of reviews, looked bank rating. But I didn’t meet with a single opinion, saying that This bank is the best in all respects. Unfortunately, it is necessary to choose. My criteria were:
- Getting one-time passwords via SMS and no need to come to the bank for them (needed to confirm transactions when paying online)
- Good internet banking, preferably with the option input / output Webmoney and Yandex. Money.
- More or less positive feedback about the bank.
It seems nothing supernatural, and not everything is so simple. Good Internet banking is not so much. Positive reviews even less. After weighing all the pros and cons, I chose Alfabank and Sberbank, which in rankings are not the best places.
The first is for Internet banking with all the features and a multi-currency account tied to one card, and the second is just because there was already such a plastic card, and not changing it has become. Moreover, most of my life I live in Russia and an extensive network ATM in the country is very convenient. Yes, and Sberbank cards are almost everyone now, so you can instantly from someone a coin receive.
Made for Thailand cards of Sberbank and Alfabank
By the way, I wrote about one-time passwords. Some banks issue them only by checks at an ATM, or in the branch bank, which is very inconvenient for travel. Previously, for example, The avant-garde sinned with these and issued scratch cards, but now they too entered sms passwords. Read more about one-time passwords I wrote here: Which bank card to choose.
Pros and cons of Alfabank and Sberbank
Alfa Bank
(+) The most convenient Internet banking compared to three. Can make any operations with your account, make deposits, withdraw or enter the electronic money at the moment, switch the account currency, if it is multicurrency.
(-) A lot of negative feedback on cash withdrawal in Alfabank ATMs, they say money is written off, and their devices are not give out. Tolley is the machinations of enemies, or indeed it is, but I he did not come across. (-) OIF / CBF fees are not transparent when conversions, there is no information through what currency work with payment systems. On the forums they write that 1.7% for both Visa and Mastercard. Also with Mastercard they work only through dollars, which means a double conversion hit of everyone who uses such maps in Europe.
Sberbank
(+) The largest number of ATMs in Russia, which means You can almost always withdraw money without commission. Also very it is convenient that in Russia money is put on it. For this you need to know Only the card number, and come to the office, which is almost in every district and every subway. (+) OIF Commission for Visa 0.65% which is very small, and 0% for Mastercard. C payment systems They work both in dollars and in euros. For example Thai баты конвертируются BAT=>USD=>RUB для обоих платежных систем,if the account is ruble.
(-) Long queues at the bank. Long simple operations are done, type connect / disconnect the mobile bank and sms notifications, and employees contradict each other if you ask questions. By Phone, too, few questions can be solved. (-) branches not linked to each other, all actions on the map only in the branch, where he designed the card.
More about payment systems, how the conversion takes place, I wrote here: Which bank card to choose.
Fee for cash withdrawals at ATMs of other banks – 1% for Sberbank, and 1.2% from Alfabank.
Internet banking, Webmoney, Yandex.Money
Electronic money transfers are now available. implement in many online banking. In Alfabank it It appeared one of the first to be done in two clicks and immediately after account bindings to accounts. The commission is really not very happy:
ЯД => Альфа — 3% Альфа => ЯД — 0% Webmoney => Альфа —2.8% Альфа => webmoney — 1%.
Although such a commission is now everywhere, if we talk about instant payments related to electronic money. If you want to minimum commissions, it is possible to withdraw Webmoney to any bank account through the Agency Guarantees (0.8%), true transfer done about a day. Also for the withdrawal of Webmoney there is a bank Opening with a good commission.
P.S. This post is already outdated. I have other cards now details in this post. Although in principle a card from Sberbank remains a relatively useful card, at least for the reason that usually everyone has it, and it’s easy to make a transfer or get him. It makes sense to do exactly Mastercard from Sberbank, not Visa, commissions will be better.
Life hacking 1 – how to buy a good insurance
Choosing insurance is now unrealistically difficult, therefore, to help everyone travelers, I make a rating. To do this, constantly monitor forums, I study insurance contracts and use insurance by myself.
Insurance Rating
Life hacking 2 – how to find a hotel 20% cheaper
First, choose a hotel on Booking. They have a good base offers, but the prices are NOT the best! The same hotel is often possible find 20% cheaper in other systems through the RoomGuru service.
Discount hotels
